w a t c h
D I A B L O Save Mount Diablo
Protecting the Mountain Since 1971
Two Ballot Measures Need Your Support On March 5!!
Winter/Spring 2002. No. 32
Wright Property Acquired Seth Adams, Save Mount Diablo’s Director of Land Programs, opened Save Mount Diablo’s 30th anniversary celebration with a slide show detailing the accomplishments of the past thirty years. Seth’s final image seemed a bit puzzling. . . a 1946 shot of Martin and Dorothy Wright peering out of the Curry Creek Park snack bar.
VOTE YES ON PROP 40! The California Clean Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhood Parks, and Coastal Protection Act of 2002
The reason for the 56 year old image became clear later in the program as a special presentation was made to Dorothy Wright. Nadine Hitchcock, Program Manager for the Coastal Conservancy’s S.F. Bay Area Program, and Contra Costa Times columnist Gary Bogue presented a five-foot long $590,000 check to Dorothy to complete SMD’s purchase of the 76-acre Wright Canyon property. SMD optioned the parcel in January 2001. Last spring Bogue held a tenweek campaign in his column to raise the option funds necessary to hold the $640,000 acquisition. Nine hundred donors responded, two thirds of them new to SMD. SMD had two years to raise the remaining funds, but on December 6th, four days before the 30th Anniversary event, the Coastal Conservancy Board approved a $590,000 grant.
Prop. 40 will provide $1.275 billion for land conservation and improved air and water quality and an additional $1.325 billion for state and local parks, recreation and historic and cultural resources. Included in the Prop 40 funding will be an allocation of $225 million for State Parks, and 40 million for the San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy, both of which can benefit Mount Diablo State Park and its surrounding regional and local parks. Continued on page 15
The grant is a testament to the great work of the Conservancy and its project manager Mary Small, who were involved in acquisition details with SMD even before a deal had been signed. The Wright property closed escrow on December 31st and is now owned by SMD. Dorothy Wright retains life estate and can live out her life on the property. Although the property is closed to the public until the property is transferred to the State Park, a condition of the Conservancy grant is that SMD conduct two public hikes each year. The first of these hikes, to be led by Gary Bogue on March 23rd, can be found in the April on the Mountain schedule.
VOTE YES ON MEASURE K The East Bay Regional Park District Measure to Provide Operation s & Maintenance Since the Measure AA acquisition bond was approved in 1988, the East Bay Regional Park District has purchased thousands of acres of land. Many of these areas will be land banked without public access until funds are generated to operate them. Measure K will provide long-term funding for park operations and maintenance - to open up newly acquired parks, restore and protect habitat, rehabilitate aging facilities, and add more rangers and wildlife biologists.
David Ogden
Since 1988 the District has almost doubled its acreage, without a proportionate funding increase for operations and maintenance. Measure K calls for $12 a year per residential parcel, or $1 a month. Renters will pay just 69 cents a month. The money raised will fund a list of priority projects put together with advice of the environmentalists and park visitors, including the opening of a number of new parks. At least 30% of the funds raised will go for the Continued on page 15
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Gary Bogue presents Dorothy Wright with a $590,000 check from the Coastal Conservancy